Edward III
is a history, or chronicle, play. The
battlefield heroics of Prince Edward, known as
the
Black Prince, resemble those of Prince Hal
(later King Henry V) in Henry IV Part I;
Henry IV Part II;
and Henry V.

Since the
publication of Edward III more than
400 years ago, its creator
has been in doubt for two key reasons: (1) The
publisher, Cuthbert
Burby, failed to identify the author when the
first copies of the play
appeared in print, probably in 1596; (2) the
Great Fire of London in
1666 probably destroyed any records referring
to the author. However,
over the centuries, scholars began to
recognize similarities between
the style of Edward III and that of
other Shakespeare plays, although Edward
III is clearly inferior to the great
Shakespeare plays.

One of the most obvious
similarities is its use of
Shakespeare’s preferred poetic meter, iambic
pentameter. In addition,
the play contains direct quotations from three
of Shakespeare's sonnets—Numbers 29, 94, and
142—and includes many obscure words (such
as mote, conventicle, belike,
orison, vail,
and bruit) which also appear in other
Shakespeare plays. In
the
late 1990s, several prestigious publishers
decided to acknowledge
Shakespeare as the author of Edward III
and include the play in
new editions. In addition, the Royal
Shakespeare Company staged the
play as a Shakespeare work at the Swan Theatre
in Stratford-upon-Avon
and at the Gielgud Theatre in London.

Settings

The action takes
place at the royal palace in London;
Roxborough Castle, near the
Scottish border; a French camp near Sluys,
Flanders; a field near
Crécy; English camps near Calais; battlefield.

Characters.The English.Edward
III
Plantagenet:King of England. He
is quick-tempered and
arrogant but yields to wise counsel when
pressed.Queen
Philippa
de Hainault:Wife of Edward III.Prince
Edward
(The Black Prince):Edward III's
noble and
courageous son, whom the king calls Ned.Robert
of
Artois:Banished French nobleman
who supports King
Edward's claim on the French throne.Earl
of
Salisbury:A nobleman loyal to
King Edward.Countess of Salisbury:Beautiful
wife
of Salisbury whom the king covets but cannot
win.Earl
of
Warwick:Father of the Countess
of Salisbury.Sir
William
Montague:Salisbury's nephew.Earl
of
Derby, Lord Audley, Lord Percy:Nobles.John
Copland:Esquire who captures
the rebellious Scottish king.Lodowick: Secretary
of
King Edward.Lord
Montfort:Duke of Brittany.Gobin
de
Graie:French peasant who aids
the English.Herald and Squires

The French
and Their Allies.John
(Valois):King of FrancePrince
Charles
of Normandy:His eldest son.Prince
Philip:Another son.Duke
of
Lorraine:Emissary from King
John II of France.Lord Villiers of NormandyKing
of
Bohemia, Polonian Captain:Allies
of John.Captains, Heralds, Citizens,
Mariner, Man, Woman

The Scots.David
II: King of Scotland.DouglasScottish Messengers

Historical Background

This play focuses
first on one of the causes of the Hundred
Years' War between England
and France: the claim of King Edward III (b.
1312, d. 1377) to the
French throne as the son of Isabel, the only
surviving child of France's King Philip IV
(1268-1314). The last of Philip's three sons
died
in 1328. The play then shifts its focus to
King Edward's quelling of an
uprising by Scots, who had been aided by the
French, and finally to the
war in France in the 1340's, when the English
win a glorious victory,
thanks in large part to the derring-do of the
king's son, Prince
Edward, known as the Black Prince.

The French
obscured your mother's privilege,And, though she were the next of
blood, proclaimedJohn of the house of Valois, now
their king.The reason was, they say, the
realm of France,Replete with princes of great
parentage,Ought not admit a governor to
rule,Except he be descended of the
male. (1.1.19-27)

Another
Frenchman, the Duke of Lorraine, arrives at
court to tell Edward that
if he presents himself before John within forty
days and acknowledges
him as the rightful ruler of France, John will
grant Edward the dukedom
of Guienne. Artois and Prince Edward, the worthy
son of the English
king, both dismiss the brazen offer and ridicule
John. Lorraine leaves
in a huff. War looms.Meanwhile, belligerent Scots under
King David invade England, capture Berwick and
Newcastle, and besiege a
castle at Roxborough that lodges the beautiful
Countess of Salisbury,
the daughter of the Earl of Warwick. King Edward
dispatches troops to
engage the French while he marches against David
and the Scots. When
Edward reaches Roxborough, the Scots flee and
Edward prepares to pursue
them until he sees the countess. Her charm and
her looks utterly
bewitch him, and he abandons his campaign
against David to woo her.
Although he and the countess are both married,
Edward unabashedly
proclaims his love for her. Morally upright, she
rejects him—and
refuses to yield to importunities from her
father, whom Edward has
forced into speaking up on his behalf. In the
end, Edward and the
countess never know each other except through
eye contact.In France, the English capture
Barfleur, Lo, Crotoy, and Carentan and lay waste
the countryside even
though John has a massive army that includes
allies from Denmark,
Bohemia, Sicily, Russia, and Poland. After John
withdraws with 100,000
men to the plain of Crécy, he and King
Edward—now encamped in
France—meet briefly during a lull in fighting
and exchange insults
before the French move on. On King Edward's
behalf, the Earl of Derby
tells King John that Edward has a just claim to
the French crown:

Was
ever any of
thy father's house king But
thyself,
before this present time? Edward's
great
lineage, by the mother's side, Five
hundred years
hath held the scepter up. Judge
then,
conspirators, by this descent, Which
is the true
born sovereign, this or that? (3.3.130-135)

Prince
Edward, known as the Black Prince, receives a
splendid suit of armor
from the Earl of Derby, Lord Audley, and Artois,
then pursues John and
his forces. But the French wheel and set upon
him. All seems lost for
the young warrior, especially when King Edward
refuses to march to his
aid. His son must fend for himself to prove his
mettle—or die. However,
the prince rallies his forces and wins the day.
When he arrives at his
father’s camp with the body of the King of
Bohemia, his father
pronounces the prince a “fit heir unto a king.”
King Edward then orders
his son and Audley to pursue John’s army as it
flees toward Poitiers
while the English king and his forces besiege
Calais, a seaport in
northern France.At
Calais, bully news arrives from England: Armies
of the crown have
defeated the Scots. Moreover, John Copland, an
esquire, has captured
King David. King Edward sends a dispatch
summoning Copland just as
Edward’s wife, the queen, arrives at the port of
Calais for a visit
with her husband. After Edward pitches his tent
near the shore to await
his wife, the burgesses of Calais agree to
surrender if Edward grants
the town clemency. Edward tells a French captain
that six of the town’s
wealthiest merchants must

Come naked
all, but for their linen shirts,With each a halter hanged about
his neck,And, prostrate, yield themselves
upon their knees,To be afflicted, hanged, or
what I please. (4.2.74-77)

King
John, meanwhile, turns the tide and traps Prince
Edward. Then he
dispatches a herald to deliver this message to
the prince: John will
spare the prince if he surrenders on his knees
with one hundred
high-ranking men. Ever bold and proud, Prince
Edward spurns the offer.
Suddenly—and inexplicably—a strange darkness
descends
on
the French camp, and ravens hover over the
troops, unnerving them.
Attempting to hearten his army, John says the
ravens are merely
awaiting the spill of English blood. While the
troops cower beneath the
ominous birds, a French officer arrives with a
prize captive, the Earl
of Salisbury. The king summarily orders him to
the gallows. Salisbury
protests, declaring that he has a passport
granting him travel rights
through French ranks. He had obtained it from
the Duke of Normandy, he
claims, in exchange for the release of a French
prisoner named
Villiers. John refuses to honor the pass;
however, the duke (John's
eldest son) steps forward and confirms that he
granted the passport,
swearing a vow to honor it. The king then
releases Salisbury, telling
him he may go to Calais to tell King Edward to
prepare a grave for his
son.Prince
Edward’s situation indeed appears hopeless, for
his archers have spent
all their arrows. But the resourceful prince
orders his troops to use
what French soil has in abundance—flint. Still
distracted by the
ravens, the French troops panic. When some of
them flee, their own
compatriots turn against them. John’s son,
Prince Philip, observes:
“One poor David hath with a stone foiled twenty
stout Goliaths. Some
twenty naked starvelings with small flints have
driven back a puissant
host of men. . . .” Prince Edward once again has
turned what appeared
to be certain defeat into a victory.At
Calais, King Edward decrees death for the six
merchants brought before
him. However, after the queen persuades him to
show mercy, he relents.
Copland then arrives with the captive Scottish
king and Salisbury with
news that Prince Edward appears doomed. Shortly
thereafter, though, a
herald delivers the glorious tidings that the
young prince has won
another great victory and, what is more, has
brought with him two royal
captives:

Rejoice,
my lord,
ascend the imperial throne. The
mighty and
redoubted Prince of Wales, Great
servitor to
bloody Mars in arms, The
Frenchman's
terror and his country's fame, Triumphant
rideth,
like a Roman peer, And
lowly, at his
stirrup, comes afoot King
John of
France together with his son In
captive bonds;
whose diadem he brings To
crown thee with
and to proclaim thee king. (5.1.177-184)

All
is well for the English after these opening
battles of the Hundred
Years War.

The climax occurs
when Prince Edward, the Black Prince, turns
the tide of battle and wins
a smashing victory, enabling his father to
receive the crown of France
from the Prince's captive, King John.

Themes

The clash between England
and France over the
throne of France. Edward III, King of
England, believes he
is the rightful heir to the throne of France as
the son of Isabel, the
only surviving child of Philip IV of France
(1268-1314). The
French maintain
that inheritance of the throne can pass only
through a man.

Coming
of age of
the king's son. Young Prince Edward proves
his worth on the field
of battle, fighting bravely and narrowly
escaping death or capture. His
father tells him that he is a “fit heir unto a
king.”

The
key
role of women in the life of nations—and a
king. Edward's
lineage as the son of Isabel, the daughter of
a king of France, is one
of the main reasons that he claims the throne
of France and goes to
war. It is also a woman, the Countess of
Salisbury, who humbles the
king. Though he has a wife and she a husband,
he makes advances toward
her, unable to control his emotions. However,
she rebukes him and,
holding a knife to her breast, threatens to
kill herself unless he
backs off:

Either
swear to
leave thy most unholy suit, And
never
henceforth to solicit me, Or
else, by
Heaven, this sharp-pointed knife Shall
stain thy
earth, with that which thou would stain: My
poor chaste
blood. Swear, Edward! Swear, Or I
will strike
and die before thee here. (2.2.181-186)

Small Stage, Great Writing

Edward
III was one of
Shakespeare’s earliest plays. While writing it,
he practiced a skill
that served him well in later plays: making
believable for his
audiences a scene that was too large in scope
for an Elizabethan stage
(a raging battle, for example). In Act 3, Scene
1, Shakespeare
accomplishes this task by having a mariner
describe to King John of
France an encounter between the English and
French navies. The
mariner’s description says, in part:

Purple
the sea,
whose channel filled as fastWith
streaming
gore that from the maimèd fell,As
did her gushing
moisture break intoThe
crannied
cleftures of the through-shot planks.Here
flew a head,
dissevered from the trunk;There
mangled arms
and legs were tossed aloft,As
when a
whirlwind takes the summer dustAnd
scatters it in
middle of the air.Then
might ye see
the reeling vessels split,And,
tottering,
sink into the ruthless flood,Until
their lofty
tops were seen no more. (161-171)

Thus,
the
physical
limitations of the stage spurred Shakespeare to
broaden
the power of his language in order to present a
panoramic scene which
today, in a film, requires teams of
cinematographers and experts in
special effects to present in credible form. These
limitations
ultimately benefited Shakespeare as a playwright,
for they forced him
to rely on his writing genius to inform the
audience about a battle, a
shipwreck, a riot, a violent thunderstorm, etc.
And what came out of
Shakespeare's quill is certainly greater by far
than what comes out of
modern movie cameras and computers.

Imagery: Nature, Animals

Edward III,
like all other Shakespeare plays, is rich in
imagery. Often, the
imagery uses nature and animals to make
comparisons, as the following
two examples demonstrate:

Metaphor
Comparing Edward to a Garden Flower

And from the
fragrant garden of her [Edward's mother,
Isabel] womb,Your gracious self, the flower of
Europe's hope,Derivèd is — inheritor to France.
(1.1.14-16)

Metaphor
Comparing Serpents to the FrenchPersonification/Metaphor
Comparing
Swords
to
Advocates

Let creeping
serpents hid in hollow banks,Sting with their tongues; we have
remorseless swords,And they shall plead for us and
our affairs. (3.3.98-100)

Metaphor
Comparing
Ships to Pines and Ensigns to Flowers

Near
to the coast
I have descried, my lord, As I
was busy in
my watchful charge, The
proud armada
of King Edward's ships, Which,
at the
first far off when I did ken, Seemed
as it were
a grove of withered pines; But,
drawing near,
their glorious bright aspect, Their
streaming
ensigns wrought of colored silk, Like
to a meadow
full of sundry flowers, Adorns
the naked
bosom of the earth. (3.1.62.71)

Imagery: the Horror of War

Shakespeare also
drenches the audience in gore, as he sometimes
does in other
plays—most notably Titus Andronicus. In
the following
passage, a mariner delivers a gruesome report
to King John on the
progress of the fighting:

Purple
the sea,
whose channel filled as fastWith
streaming
gore that from the maimèd fell,As
did her gushing
moisture break intoThe
crannied
cleftures of the through-shot planks.Here
flew a head,
dissevered from the trunk;There
mangled arms
and legs were tossed aloft,As
when a
whirlwind takes the summer dustAnd
scatters it in
middle of the air.Then
might ye see
the reeling vessels split,And,
tottering,
sink into the ruthless flood,Until
their lofty
tops were seen no more. (3.1.161-171)

Imagery: the Yearning Heart

King Edward,
captivated by the beauty of the Countess of
Salisbury, cannot resist
making a play for her. He experiences
overwhelming desire that he
cannot control—and overwhelming guilt when he
sees the reflection of
his wife's face in the face of his son.

Metaphor:
the
Alluring Eyes of the Countess of Salisbury Are
Eloquent Orators

What
needs a
tongue to such a speaking eye, That
more
persuades than winning oratory? (1.2.139-140)

Henry II (son of Henry I's
daughter and Geoffrey
Plantagenet) 1154-1189. Age at death:
56. Richard
I
("the Lion-Hearted," son of Henry II),
1189-1199. Age at death:
42. John
(son
of Henry II), 1199-1216. Age at death:
50. Henry
III
(son of John), 1216-1272. Age at death:
65. Edward
I
("Longshanks," son of Henry III), 1272-1307.
Age at death: 68. Edward
II
(son of Edward I, deposed), 1307-1327. Age at
death: 43. Edward
III
(son of Edward II), 1327-1377. Age at death:
65. Richard
II
(grandson of Edward III), 1377-1399. Forced to
abdicate and died a
year later, in 1400, a victim of starvation or
murder. Age at death: 33..